WASHINGTON, D.C. June 13 (DPI) – When it comes to the gun debate, the American public and media are making fewer distinctions between acts of terrorism and other domestic mass shootings. Calls for new gun restrictions – including one from President Obama – emerged following the atrocity in Orlando over the weekend.

The shooter – who took the lives of 49 people, and wounded 53 others – was armed with an assault rifle that he reportedly purchased legally in 2013.  He was a US citizen of Afghan descent, and, while methodically killing innocent people, he made it a point to inform authorities that he was motivated by Jihad.

Although the previous major act of homegrown terrorism – in San Bernardino in December – was also motivated by radical Islamist beliefs, there were fewer immediate calls then for gun control, since the gunman obtained his principal weapon from an unsuspecting neighbor, and California already banned sale of the weapon, authorities said.   Other domestic shootings by the mentally ill – in Newtown CT and Aurora CO, both in 2012 – spurred immediate calls for  new gun restrictions.

But this weekend’s shooting – at a popular gay club with hundreds of people inside – created a convergence of reactions.  Even the conservative NY Daily News  posted the tabloid headline “Thanks, NRA” in the wake of the massacre.

Part of the immediate reaction – renewed criticism of Islamic radicalism – got widely squelched online as Reddit, Facebook and other major social media sites tried to censor hate speech.

But other reactions – principally focusing on the fact that the shooter seemed to target gays – created a new narrative. It was the first major act of Islamic terrorism directed at the gay community in the US.